Contact lenses are wonderful devices. They allow us to see clearly without needing to fuss with glasses. The very first contact lenses that were invented were terrible for our eyes but people still wanted to wear them to get away from glasses! They've come a long way but contact lenses still carry a risk and people still can, and do, go blind from using them improperly.

Why am I telling you all that? To remind you the importance of a proper contact lens assessment by a contact lens fitting optician, an optometrist or an ophthalmologist.

What does that have to do with subscription contacts?

"... an improperly fitting contact lens can lead to vision loss."

Ordering your contacts from a subscription service may seem like a great idea but you must make sure that a professional is checking the fit of them on your eye. The problem, and the problem with all online orders, is they currently do not require you to provide a proper, up to date contact lens prescription (which IS different from your glasses prescription) to order a supply! That means you can order without anyone checking them on your eye! Many people assume if a contact lens doesn't fit them, they'll know. Sadly, that isn't true and an improperly fitting contact lens can lead to vision loss.

"Some Subscription contacts only provide 30-40% of the oxygen your eye needs which just isn't enough. Modern contacts allow 80-100% of the oxygen to your eye."

It's also vital to discuss your contact lens and vision needs with your doctor. We've studied a long time to understand how contacts and the eye work best! For example, did you know that the material used in the largest subscription contact lens service, methafilcon A, is a very old material that doesn't breathe well? That can cause the cornea, the front clear part of the eye, to swell.A swollen cornea has an increased risk of infection. That's no good.

"Cheaper? Think again! A common subscription contact lens service costs $528/year. A year supply of dailies from Eye Spy costs only $460/year."

In Canada, a common subscription contact lens service costs you $40/month plus $4 shipping. Over 12 months that means you've spent $528 on your daily contact lenses.Compare that to an equivalent daily lens at our office, the Acuvue 1 day Moist. A year supply from us costs you $560. I can hear you saying, "Aha! That costs more!" and you're right! But here's the thing, Acuvue offers a $100 rebate on a year supply of contacts which brings your cost down to only $460 for a year supply. Even better, we can direct bill to your insurance provider which lowers your out of pocket expense even more.

At the end of the day, you get to choose what you think is best for your eyes and your health. You get to decide where you want to purchase your contacts and glasses and that's okay! My job, and the job of eye care professionals everywhere, is to make sure you're making an informed decision. Subscription lenses aren't cheaper, they aren't healthier and they aren't safer but they are convenient and it's a neat idea to have contacts show up on your doorstep every month.

If you have questions about subscription contacts, any contact lens, or anything else feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

“Dr. Ross, why should I replace my contacts regularly?”“They feel fine.”“I just replace them when they start to bug me.”“I know I should replace them every month but sometimes I just leave them in for a few months and I haven’t had a problem.”“You guys always tell me to replace my contacts every month. It’s a scam, isn’t it? You just want my money!”

"...THEIR HEALTH HISTORY COULD BE YOUR HEALTH FUTURE."

There is a lot of confusion about what optometrists really do. We are so stereotypically associated with asking people "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and correcting vision problems that people are sometimes surprised to hear that we do a lot more! To help with the confusion I decided to start this blog series "I should see an eye doctor for that?". Some might surprise you, some might not. In today's blog we're going to talk about your why if grandma had eye problems, like glaucoma, you need to have regular eye exams.

Alright, we don't really mean JUST if grandma had eye problems. Grandma shouldn't take all the blame. If someone in your family has an eye disease it's important for you to know what it is and who has it! Why should it matter to you, a healthy person with perfect vision, that someone in your family has an eye disease? Unsurprisingly since you share at least some of their genes their health history could be your health future.

It's all in your genes.

Many eye diseases are genetic which means that if someone in your family had them, you could too. Much like if someone in your family has diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease you're at a higher risk of developing those same problems if someone in your family has glaucoma, macular degeneration or a host of other diseases you too are at a higher risk.

"80% OF EYE DISEASE HAS NO SYMPTOMS IN ITS EARLY STAGES"

A couple important points. When I say someone in your family I mean 'blood relatives'. For example if your step mother has glaucoma or your sister-in-law has macular degeneration you don't share their risk because you don't share their genes. It's also important to point out that an increased risk does not mean certainty. Simply because your mother has diabetes or glaucoma does not mean you are doomed to have the same problems but it does mean you need to be careful and get your health, including your eye health, checked regularly.

So what has a genetic link? Almost everything unfortunately. The big three eye diseases, glaucoma, macular degeneration and cataract all have a genetic component. Diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke to name a few all directly impact the eye as well and often signs of those diseases will show up in the eye before they show up anywhere else!

This is one of the main reasons (though not the only one) why I recommend yearly eye exams. 80% of eye disease has no symptoms in its early stages and the only way to detect the problem and prevent it from getting worse is to have an eye doctor check the health of your eyes. Even if your vision is perfect there may be something going on that hasn't made itself obvious just yet.

As always, if you have any questions about this or anything else feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

There is a lot of confusion about what optometrists really do. We are so stereotypically associated with asking people "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and correcting vision problems that people are sometimes surprised to hear that we do a lot more! To help with the confusion I decided to start this new blog series "I should see an eye doctor for that?". Some might surprise you, some might not. In today's blog I want to go review a situation where people assume they should go to an ER: Eye injuries

This is a topic that can be a bit tricky because optometrists deal with some eye injuries but not all of them. A good rule of thumb is that if it's bleeding heavily or the eye is actually punctured (as in you have a nail stuck in your eye) please go to the ER. If you come to me I'll be sending you out the door to the ER as quickly as possible!

So where do doctors of optometry fit in? For pretty much everything else! I both love and hate lists but sometimes they're the best way to get an idea across. So, below find a list of some of the different eye injuries optometrists address that you might not expect!

Chemicals in the eye - If you have gotten a chemical in your eye (household cleaner, hydrogen peroxide based contact lens solution, etc) your first stop should be your sink or shower to rinse out as much as humanly possible. Your next stop should be your optometrist. We can fully assess the damage and get you started on the right medications to get you healing and prevent an infection.

Objects in your eye - Like I mentioned above if something has punctured your eye (like a nail) or there's extreme bleeding you need to go to the ER for emergency treatment. If you have a piece of metal, small piece of wood or even an unknown object in your eye you can come and see me and I can remove it quickly and easily.

Scratches on your eye - If you scratch your eye somehow (paper cuts and sharp baby fingernails are common) come in and get it looked at. Usually these heal up well but we can check to make sure the damage isn't too serious, prescribe medications to prevent an infection and help with pain. Regardless of how you scratch your eye get it checked!

Impact to the eye - Did you get punched? Did your dog jump up and give you a black eye? Did you get hit in the face with a ball? These are all good reasons to come in and have your eye looked at. Usually there's just swelling and bruising from something like this but it's important to look at your retina. An impact to the eye that is hard enough to bruise can be enough to cause a retinal detachment and permanent vision loss.

If you're ever concerned about something related to your eyes and you aren't sure if your doctor of optometry is equipped to deal with your problem it's important that you call them and ask. Even if your optometrist isn't able to deal with something he or she can often put you in touch with the right people, such as the on call ophthalmologist, and get you seen and treated sooner.

These types of issues are covered completely by Alberta Health Care. There is generally no charge to you for this type of visit (this can be up to the doctor's discretion. At Eye Spy Optometry we never charge for this type of visit).

If you have any questions about this or anything else feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

There is a lot of confusion about what optometrists really do. We are so stereotypically associated with asking people "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and correcting vision problems that people are sometimes surprised to hear that we do a lot more! To help with the confusion I decided to start this new blog series "I should see an eye doctor for that?". Some might surprise you, some might not. In today's blog I want to go over one that should be obvious: eye infections.

Eye infections, often known as pink eye, are really common. Your eye might be red, gooey, watery, itchy, sore and your vision may be blurred. They aren't pleasant. So if you wake up with a nasty red eye who are you going to call? If you said Ghostbusters congratulations for being born in the 80's. Assuming your eye isn't haunted though you're going to need a doctor. So, do you go see your medical doctor or your doctor of optometry?

Medical doctors are of course fully trained to deal with eye infections and can prescribe you what you need. So, why would you see an optometrist instead?

1. Optometrists have specialized equipment. This equipment is designed to look closely at the eye to determine what type of infection you have, how serious it is and if it is actually an infection or something else. Most MDs do not. Having this information means we can target the infection directly leading to faster healing times and a lower chance of a misdiagnosis (which could make the problem worse depending on what is prescribed).

2. There's no wait! You can generally get in to see an optometrist within a few minutes. My MD is great but I almost always have to wait to get in even when I have an appointment. The wait times at an ER for something like this will be brutal because it's not an emergency and you'll be waiting for ages.

3. It's fully covered by Alberta Health Care. So long as you provide us with your Alberta Health Care number a visit for an eye infection is considered medically required.

So, it's faster, it's free and we have all the specialized equipment and training to make a good diagnosis and fix your infection. There's no reason not to come see an optometrist! After all, if you had a toothache would you go see your medical doctor or would you see your dentist?

If you want to read more feel free to check out the following links or as always you can contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

There is a lot of confusion about what optometrists really do. We are so stereotypically associated with asking people "Which is better, 1 or 2?" and correcting vision problems that people are sometimes surprised to hear that we do a lot more! To help with the confusion I decided to start this new blog series "I should see an eye doctor for that?". Some might surprise you, some might not. In this blog let’s go over what to do if there’s something in your eye.

“These types of issue are covered completely by Alberta Health Care.”

Imagine this: You’re working in the shop. A piece of wood or metal gets in your eye. Or maybe you’re out innocently walking on a windy day when out of nowhere something flies into your eye and won’t come out. What do you do? What’s your first instinct? For most people it’s to rub their eyes. Please don’t (if there’s something sharp in there it will just scratch the front of the eye and be even more painful)! You might think to rinse it out with drops, saline, or water and that’s a fair instinct but what if that doesn’t work?

Ouch. If you get something in your eye don’t delay. Be seen by a doctor of optometry as soon as possible!

“… your doctor of optometry has all the right tools and training and can usually see you right away.”

For many people their next stop is either the emergency room or their family doctor. That’s a fair choice and certainly if something has punctured the eye or there’s extreme bleeding go to the ER. Otherwise your doctor of optometry has all the right tools and training and can usually see you right away.

What do we do? Well, first we numb your eye with a simple eye drop. Then under high magnification we use specialized tools designed specifically for the eye to remove whatever is stuck. Afterwards, if required, we would prescribe an appropriate medication to prevent infection or further injury. It’s as easy as that.

If you're ever concerned about something related to your eyes and you aren't sure if your doctor of optometry is equipped to deal with your problem it's important that you call them and ask. Even if your optometrist isn't able to deal with something he or she can often put you in touch with the right people, such as the on call ophthalmologist, and get you seen and treated sooner.

These types of issues are covered completely by Alberta Health Care. There is generally no charge to you for this type of visit (this can be up to the doctor's discretion. At Eye Spy Optometry we never charge for this type of visit).

If you have any questions about this or anything else feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

If you've lived in Calgary for more than a few days you are well aware that we live in an incredibly dry province. While I love chinook winds as much as the next person they definitely dry things out such as your skin, your mouth and of course your eyes. Dry eye feels like it should be a simple thing. Your eyes are dry so you need to add moisture, right? Unfortunately, dry eye is a complex and multifactorial issue that can be a challenge to deal with.

To understand dry eye you have to understand tears. Our tears are not just water. There are actually three different layers to our tear film! The layer closest to our eye is a mucous layer that helps sweep capture and sweep debris from our eyes. The next layer is the main, watery layer we're all familiar with. Finally the outermost layer is an oily layer that helps keep our tears from evaporating.

The different tear layers on our eyes. All are required in perfect balance to prevent dryness.

All of these different tear layers need to be present and in a proper balance to prevent dryness and irritation. The amount and quality of tears produced can be affected by many things such as certain diseases, increasing age, being female, some medications and of course your environment.

As you can imagine with so many different factors there are many different types of dry eye. The two main types of dry eye occur when either not enough of the outer oily layer is produced so the watery layer evaporates (creatively called evaporative dry eye) or that not enough of the watery middle layer is produced which we call aqueous deficient dry eye.

There are different treatments for different types of dry eye and for different levels of dryness. My job is to figure out which type of dry eye you have and its severity and treat you appropriately. While artificial tears (eye drops) are required in almost all types of dry eye different artificial tears will work better for certain types of dryness than others and often will not be enough to deal with all of your symptoms.

If you are experiencing dry eye I would strongly encourage you to come and have your eyes checked. Chronic dry eye creates a nasty feedback loop causing your eyes to get drier and drier over time unless you intervene.

There is a lot more to know about dry eye. Stay tuned for future blogs about the types of dry eye, what makes it worse and how we treat your eyes.

There’s a story that’s been going around on social media about retinoblastoma, a rare but serious eye cancer that affects young children (I reposted it here). I realize that most people have probably never even heard of retinoblastoma and given how serious it is I thought it was worth writing about. It can be treated and, like any cancer, the sooner it’s caught the better the outcome.

So first, what is retinoblastoma? It is a cancer of the retina itself caused by a genetic mutation that can happen all on its own or be inherited. The reason it happens in young kids and not older people is the cells that lead to retinoblastoma are only found in children. They are called retinoblasts and their job is to divide and fill in the retina as the child grows (our eyes aren’t fully developed when we’re born). If they start growing and dividing uncontrollably we end up with a retinoblastoma.

So how do you detect it? The best way is to have regular eye exams. Remember that kids can start getting eye exams as young as 6 months old! You can also detect retinoblastoma yourself as a parent by watching out for a few key things. If your child’s pupil appears white in photographs, your child has developed an eye turn (also called a strabismus or lazy eye) or the eye is red and irritated or doesn’t seem to see as well I would strongly advise getting your child seen by your optometrist or family doctor as soon as possible. It is very important to note that most white pupils, eye turns and red, irritated eyes are not cancer. There are a variety of potential causes of these signs, some serious, others less serious and it is the job of your optometrist to figure it out.

If you see this in a picture of your child you want it's important to have it checked immediately.

So what do you do if you do find that your child has retinoblastoma? How can it be treated?Your retinal oncologist (fancy name for an ophthalmologist or eye surgeon that specializes in eye cancer) will set up a treatment plan depending on the size, type and location of the tumour. The number one priority in all cases of eye cancer is to save the person’s life. Retinoblastoma is fast growing and there is a possibility of it spreading to other parts of the body or into the brain. Saving the eye or the vision is less important than saving the child’s life. Radiation, chemotherapy, cryotherapy and a number of other common cancer treatments are typically used to start in an effort to reduce the size of the tumour or eliminate it. In some cases it is necessary to remove the eye. Even if they eye itself can be saved it often is not able to see after treatment is completed. Retinoblastoma is never something we want to see but if caught early much can be done to help.

So now you have a better understanding of retinoblastoma. If you have any questions always feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google + or via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.

People love their kids, that’s pretty much a given fact. Everyone wants to make sure they do the best they can to help their kids be everything they want to be! You take them in for their shots and check ups, make sure their teeth are healthy with the dentist and keep them busy with sports or music or any number of things! What many parents forget is to have their child’s eyes checked by an Optometrist.

I completely understand how this happens: People don’t think we can do eye exams on young kids; they think that little Timmy sees just fine thank you very much; they just don’t think it’s necessary! The thing is the consequences of assuming everything is fine can be quite serious. It's much better to check and know everything is fine than to not check and hope for the best.

Optometrists are fully trained to do eye exams on just about anyone including small children. We actually start seeing kids as young as 6 months (and we really only wait that long because the eyes are still learning how to work together properly before then). I know you’re thinking “But, what on earth are you going to do with my 6 month old!” Don’t worry. We don’t require that our patients answer all those questions to get the information we need. Without any questions we can still assess the three major areas all optometrists check: how well the eyes focus, how well the eyes work together and how healthy the eyes are inside and out.

To check how well the eyes focus, especially on kids or people who are non-verbal, optometrists use a tool called a retinoscope. When we shine it back and forth at someone’s eyes we see a light reflex. Depending on how that reflex moves we can tell if someone is near-sighted, far-sighted or has astigmatism. We use lenses to ‘neutralize’ that reflex and that tells us what the prescription is. We can do this on anyone of any age but it only gives us an estimate of the prescription so we still ask adults all those darn questions. Most kids don’t have a significant prescription, even if they may develop one later in life. Some children though have very extreme prescriptions. If the prescription isn’t corrected it can lead to amblyopia, a condition that prevents someone from having clear vision even with glasses on.

A lot of parents assume that if their child hasn’t complained they must not have a problem. This isn’t accurate for a couple reasons. If only one eye is affected your little guy can see just fine… it’s just only out of one eye. Since most kids don’t walk around with one eye closed they don’t usually notice the problem! The other issue is that kids don’t really know what they should be seeing, especially when they’re very young. If both eyes are affected he or she may not realize there’s a problem and assume that this is just how everyone sees. It’s not until they’re much older, 7 or 8, that they start to realize something isn’t quite right at which point it’s almost too late to treat.

Our next blog will continue to explore kids eye exams and talk a bit more about how our eyes work together, eye health and how we check those out on young kids.

Everyone knows how important it is to wear sunscreen, especially if you’re going to be spending the day outside. Sunscreen has become a part of many of our daily routines and is in most skin creams. Enjoying our short summers here in Calgary usually means spending as much time as possible outside while the weather is nice and we all know we need to wear sunscreen when we’re outside all day. Protecting your eyes from the sun though is just as important.

In my last blog I talked about cataracts and how UV light increases your risk of getting cataracts sooner. Several blogs ago I talked about macular degenerationand how one of the main preventable risk factors in the disease is exposure to UV light! If you’ve been reading my blogs you already know how important protecting your eyes from the sun is. UV light also increases your risk of certain eye and eyelid cancers as well as wrinkles, lumpy fleshy elevations on the white of your eye called pingueculae or even fleshy growths over the clear part of your eye called pterygia!

So I’ve convinced you how important sun protection is (I hope!) and you get it now. Even though sun protection is really important did you know that almost one third of people don’t wear sunglasses at all? When we talk about kids that number increases to almost 50%! While it is definitely important for people of all ages to wear sun protection it is extra important for kids. A combination of very large pupils, a more transparent lens inside of their eye that allows far more UV to penetrate inside and spending more time outside than most adults leads to 80% of lifetime UV exposure to the eye to happen before the age of 18!

UV light is sneaky and may be getting to your skin and your eyes in situations you might not expect such as underwater, on cloudy days or getting a double dose from light reflected off of snow or water!

All sunglasses are the same though, right? Wrong. Not all sunglasses block all UV light rays. All sunglasses sold in Canada have some degree of UV protection but not all block 99% of UVB rays which is what is recommended to best protect your eyes! If you have sunglasses and want to know how much UV they block feel free to bring them in to our office and we can measure how much UV is blocked at no cost to you.

So you’re saying to yourself alright, I get it, I need to wear good sunglasses: I have more news. Sunglasses are often not enough. Even nice big sunglasses still let some light in around the edges and especially some of the extremely cool aviator frames are flat (they don't 'wrap' around your face) and don’t offer much protection from the side. You have some options to help protect yourself further. A good hat with a wide brim helps prevent as much sunlight from getting around your sunglasses. Another option though is to wear contacts!

I know you’re wondering how on Earth contact lenses could help. It’s a fair question since most do not. All contact lenses offered by Acuvue though have some degree of UV protection. They have many that will block over 99% of UVB! This is a great option for protecting your eyes from the sun and at Eye Spy Optometry we carry a wide variety of Acuvue products.

So which is best? Sunglasses? A hat? UV blocking contact lenses? The answer is all of them together. All these options will work together to give you comprehensive UV protection for your eyes. It’s important to remember as well that UV exposure doesn’t decrease very much on cloudy days, under water, in the winter or at dawn or dusk. If you think you only need sun protection from 10:00am-4:00pm on sunny days in the summer you’re going to still get a heavy dose of UV the rest of the time! Think about all those times on the ski hill when you’ve ended up with a burn on the few exposed areas of skin you had.

Remember to protect your eyes, protect your skin and protect your health with as many UV blocking options as you can find. Your body will thank you for it!

If you have more questions about this or anything else always feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google + or via our website. For more information feel free to follow the links below:

Recently the measles has been making the news a lot. It seems that hardly a day goes by without another report alerting us to an outbreak somewhere in Canada and it seems that Alberta has more than its fair share. While I was in school we touched only briefly on the measles since it was considered essentially eliminated in Canada. It can and does affect the eyes and since this resurgence I have refreshed myself on the dangers of the measles and what can happen to your vision.

All that said, I have seen measles in they eye before and it really took me by surprise.

While I worked in Malawi, Africa, a boy came in with a nasty looking pink eye and he was covered in spots. The doctor we were working with looked at us and said "What does this boy have." My colleague and I were stumped. "Measles of course!" he proclaimed as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. We had never seen measles before and were barely taught about it. It was considered an almost dead disease. As we have seen, that is not exactly the case.

A very, very close look at the measles virus.

The boy we treated in Africa recovered wonderfully and his eye cleared up. He was lucky. There are a lot of potential complications of measles. The most common is pink eye. Your eye could be red, gooey, and sore. It is also possible though to have retinal problems. The only symptom you might notice from those retinal issues would be that you were no longer seeing well or no longer seeing at all! If you have been diagnosed with measles or think you may have gotten the measles make sure you include an eye health check as you heal. This type of health exam is fully covered by Alberta Health Care and may just save your vision.

I would strongly encourage anyone who has not gotten the measles vaccine to consider having it done. I know some people may have a lot of questions or fears about vaccines and I'm happy to discuss any of those concerns with you either in office or through social media. The measles vaccine, while not 100% effective, will drastically reduce your risk of contracting the measles and suffering the potentially blinding eye complications.

If you have any questions about this or anything else feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, via our website or phone us at (403) 474-6744.